Dara Phantom
by ultimatephantomfangirl
Summary: Growing up can be hard especially for Dara Fenton who leads a duel life as Dara Phantom the halfghost daughter of Danny Phantom. As Dara enters her 14th year she discovers she may be the most powerful being to ever exist, but is that a good thing?
1. Chapter 1

-1Full Summary: Growing up is hard, especially when you're Dara Fenton who leads a duel life as Dara Phantom the half-ghost daughter of Danny Phantom. However, as Dara enters her 14th year new changes await her as she discovers she may very well be the most powerful being to ever exist, but is that a good thing? Dara's powers are going out of control, and her ghost half seems to be taking over. Will Danny be able to save his daughter? Or will she save us all?

Disclaimer: No, I do not own Danny Phantom, or any of its characters or episodes. I, also, do not own any other author's work on fan fiction, so if any of my story sounds like something from someone else's I'm sorry and I assure you the similarities are entirely accidental. That being said I do own this particular story, Dara, and any other characters that appear in this story but do not appear in the Danny Phantom show.

Author's Note: For anyone who has seen Phantom Planet, you may notice that there are some things in my story that differ slightly from how that episode ended. If you want the specifics check out my profile. If you don't care then just read the story, trust me the differences are easy to pick up. Anyway, enjoy!

Chapter 1: Training

"It's quiet. Too quiet." a young female voice said. The voice echoed off the steel walls of the compound, however, if one were to look in that area at that exact moment they would notice something very odd. There was no one in the room where the voice had come from, at least no one that was visible at the moment. Suddenly, from out of thin air, a young teenage ghost girl stepped out into the middle of the room. The ghost girl wore an outfit with material that resembled that of a jumpsuit with a few modifications, however. She wore a black sleeveless top that stopped at her midriff. Her bottom half was covered by black streamlined pants, a white belt, and white boots. Her white gloves were very long reaching from her hands all the way up to her shoulders (but not covering them). Her long straight white hair was tied up in a ponytail that sat atop her head, and she had bright glowing green eyes which people who knew her well said looked exactly like her father's. Truth be told, to many ghosts in the Ghost Zone, this ghost girl looked an awful lot like another famous (or infamous depending on how you look at it) ghost they knew all too well. And it wasn't just the fact that she had a DP logo emblazoned on her shirt either. Anyway, the ghost girl was currently in a giant room with steel walls surrounding her on every side and it was deathly quiet.

"It's quiet. Too quiet." she said. All of a sudden a giant steel wall fell from the ceiling right on top of her. She was able to go intangible and phaze through it just in time. However, three more steel walls followed this one but the ghost girl was quick on her feet (so to speak) and she was able to dodge all of them.

Next ectodarts were flying at her from every direction. She took to the air and went intangible allowing the darts to pass through her before she fired up her ghost ray and took out all the machines that fired the darts. The green energy engulfed the machine as they blew up. Just as the ghost girl was feeling pretty good about herself, a giant blast of energy hit her from behind and she fell to the ground hitting it hard.

As she looked up she saw that her attacker was another ghost with white hair wearing a black jumpsuit (she couldn't see the ghost's face because they were wearing a mask). The new ghost fired off another round of green ectoplasmic blasts but the ghost girl was fast and was in the air before the energy blasts could hit. The ghost girl fired her own ghost ray at her attacker, but the new ghost was fast, too, and dodged them with ease before becoming invisible. "Where'd she go?!" the ghost girl wondered aloud. She got her answer in the form of the ghost's fist making contact with her chin and throwing her against the wall. The ghost then shot a rippling blast of energy at her, but the ghost girl recovered quickly and surrounded herself with an ectoshield which reflected the blasts. Through her ectoshield the ghost girl was able to throw out her own energy blasts. Her attacker was not entirely prepared for this tactic and was hit with several of the rays.

The ghost girl, thinking she was safe, lowered her ectoshield and floated out into the center of the room. However, her attacker was crafty and quickly and skillfully blasted the ghost girl with huge amounts of sound waves which the ghost turned into spectral energy. The ghost girl was taken completely off guard and thrown back by the pulsation of the sound waves where she ended up hitting the ceiling so hard it cracked and a cloud of dust formed around her, blocking her from view. The attacker thinking they had won turned their back to the ghost girl. Now the number one rule in any battle is never turn your back to your opponent, and the number two rule is that it's not over till it's over. The ghost attacker was suddenly struck from behind by a powerful blast of green energy. The attacker was hit so hard they were thrown in a somersault in the air.

"That was a good move," the ghost girl said from a place the other ghost couldn't see, "but not good enough!" the ghost girl said as she suddenly reappeared flying right toward her attacker with her fists out at high speed. Her fist made a hard powerful contact with the ghost attacker's face. The ghost was dazed just long enough for the ghost girl to grab their arm and fling them over her shoulder, in a very marshal arts type way, which resulted in her attacker landing hard on the floor. "That would be checkmate, I win." the ghost girl said as (in one quick motion) she brought out the thermos she always carried with her and sucked her ghost attacker inside. Beads of sweat and perspiration were dripping from her face as the after effect of her battle, but she had a smile on her face obviously pleased with her accomplishment. All of a sudden bright lights shown into the room as the traps reset themselves and a male voice emanated from the loudspeakers hooked up around the room.

"Good job honey, very impressive. Now come back up to the control room."

"Okay be right there." The ghost girl flew up to the top of the training compound, and phazed through the giant window on the wall landing right in the control room next to a raven haired man sitting in a chair. The man pressed a few buttons on the control panel in order to reset the training facility.

Once that was finished he turned to the ghost girl. The man wore a pair of old blue jeans, a red tee-shirt, and dirty brown boots. He had the same mess of raven black hair that he had since forever, and he still had those same sky blue eyes. Truthfully, the face of Danny Fenton hadn't changed all that much from when he was a teenager, and neither really had his taste in clothes. He had grown up, though. He now stood at around six feet tall and had become rather muscular (fighting ghosts for 20 years can really give you some definition). Truly Danny Fenton was a very handsome man under those old worn out clothes (actually he was very handsome with the clothes as well). Yes, truly a catch for all those bachelorette women looking for a husband. Unfortunately for all of them, Danny Fenton had already been caught officially 14 years ago and had no intention of ever wriggling free.

Danny Phantom still protected the city of Amity Park, where he still resides, however, at the young age of 34 he finds himself not only a city's protector but, also, a husband and a father of a teenage girl. The girl, as you have probably already guessed, was the ghost girl we met in the beginning and who has just finished another successful training session.

"You let your guard down again, Dara." Danny said in a slightly strict yet rather worried tone, "You know better then to put down your ectoshield before your sure the enemy is down. A mistake like that could cause you to get seriously injured."

Now a comment like this would send the normal teenage girl (even if her normal was being the half ghost daughter of the famous ghost super hero Danny Phantom) into a fit of hysterics causing a huge argument to ensue between parent and child. However, Dara was not your typical teenager with or without the ghost powers.

At her father's remarks, Dara simply chuckled to herself and rolled her eyes. Yep, this was definitely her dad. The truth is that Dara had done everything she could do in that battle almost perfectly. She had done everything she could to protect herself, keeping up her ectoshield any longer would've used up, too, much energy and she wouldn't have been able to ultimately defeat her opponent. She knew it, her dad knew it, and she knew her dad knew it, but he would never say it. The truth is Danny would rather see Dara overly protected in a battle than winning it.

However, that didn't mean Danny didn't have confidence in his daughter, and Dara knew that. He just cared that was all. He was a big overprotective worry wart when it came to Dara, and it had always been like that. In fact it only been just last year that Dara was finally able to convince her dad that she was fully capable of fighting ghosts just like he did. Danny had been reluctant to allow his daughter to fight ghosts despite how powerful she was. He knew it would cause problems for her, and he didn't want to see her get hurt. And he, also, knew (from personnel experience) once you start fighting ghosts you can't stop and your life will never be normal again.

However, Dara argued that she had never been normal. She had been born a halfa, and (although he didn't want her to fight ghosts) Danny had started training Dara in controlling her ghost powers after she was finally able to transform fully into her ghost half when she was four. Those first few years of her life, however, were difficult (that's the pretransformation years).

Raising a child normally is hard, however, it's made even harder when you have a three year old who shoots beams of green energy out of her eyes every time she throws a tantrum, or one that randomly will turn intangible and phaze through the floor while jumping on her bed. Finding a babysitter was hard, too. Considering that they could loose the child they were supposed to be watching even when she was sitting right next to them because she had suddenly decided to become invisible. Because of this, anyone who didn't know the Fenton family secret was not allowed in the house when Dara was growing up.

The people of earth were still blissfully clueless to the fact that Danny Fenton was Danny Phantom, and he intended to keep it that way if only for his daughter's sake. Danny had told his parents years ago, of course, and even though after he saved the world from the Disasteroid and public opinion of Danny Phantom among most had gone from evil enemy to great hero, there were still a few party pooping humans out there that would cause trouble for him and his family if he didn't have his secret identity to fall back on. Plus, as Danny has told Dara many times before, fame and always being in the spotlight isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Dara realized this as well, and she promised Danny she had enough control of her powers to keep the Phantom identity secret. Dara, also, made it clear that she was doing this simply because she wanted to, and she had not been influenced by anyone else (especially her Gramps, because it seemed that Jack was very intent on continuing on the Fenton family legacy of ghost hunting and was more than happy to push his ideas on his grandchildren). Dara really did love hunting ghosts, and she really did want to help her dad fight.

Danny, also, knew that along with his ghost powers Dara had, also, gotten his stubbornness. She wasn't going to give up on this. Plus she gave him those big puppy dog eyes she always gave him when she really wanted something. He finally gave in and let her fight ghosts just like he had. She was about the same age he was when he had started fighting ghosts, so he figured she was old enough.

However, he did require these training sessions to make sure Dara was still at the top of her game, and to check for new ghost powers she may have developed (which he knew would come soon enough). Despite this, Danny had pretty much let Dara hunt ghosts with no restrictions (she just couldn't blow up too much of the town at once), and Dara loved him for it.

Danny knew how much Dara loved being half ghost and how happy fighting ghosts made her. Danny was just happy that she was happy , he just hoped Dara wouldn't come to regret it one day.

Dara knew how much her dad worried about her. He was the same with her mom, so she tried to be as careful as possible while fighting. She knew he'd still worry, but she hoped not as much. She hated to see her dad sad or upset, her mom too. They were very close those three, and unlike most teenagers Dara didn't mind that both her parents smothered her with caring and love. In retrospect, she'd rather have parents who care too much then parents who don't care at all.

Dara has always been told she's not a normal teen, and she knows she's not. Dara and her parents never fight. Well, they fight ghosts, but that's different. (A/N: Yes, I know that line is in Danny Phantom, but it just fit so perfectly there.) She didn't see the point in arguing with her parents over nothing, and then giving them the silent treatment and doing something stupid just to spite them. She loved both her parents way, too, much to ever do anything like that.

That's why she didn't mind that her dad was telling her she should've overprotected herself. If he hadn't been a paranoid mass of over protectiveness she would've been worried. However, she did feel the need to assert herself a little this time just to make her dad realize he didn't need to worry so much.

"You always say something like that Daddy." Dara said in a laughing tone, "You need to stop worrying so much. Honestly you're only 34 years old and you're already getting gray hair. I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself when faced with a ghost attack, and it's not like I don't know how to take a punch. I was trained by the best, remember?" Danny smiled sweetly at his daughter's comment.

"I know you are. And I know I may come off as overprotective, but I just can't stop myself from worrying about you and I'm never going to either."

"I know Daddy. I know." As she said this, two blue rings encircled Dara. Starting at her middle, one ring traveled down her bottom half while the other covered her top. It took mere seconds for the powerful ghost girl known as Dara Phantom to transform into her human teenage counterpart Dara Fenton.

Dara was 14 years old and a freshmen at Casper High School. Her high school career had started only a week ago, it being only September, but she found she was well known, unfortunately, by one of her parents' old teachers Mr. Lancer (yes he's still there).

Dara's face resembled that of her father. She had the same sky blue eyes as him, along with similar features on her face. Dara, also, had that same warm half smile that seemed to only come directly from Danny's genes. She did have the same color of black hair that he did, however, it was longer and was straight just like her mother's. It was, of course, up in a high ponytail falling along her back just as it had in her ghost form.

However, no matter how much she looked like her father, there was no mistaking where Dara got her fashion sense from. Dara was extremely Goth. She wore a long sleeved black shirt which was cut into little fringes at the openings near her hands giving it a very gothic look. She wore a black skirt with dark purple lines on it drawn in a checkered pattern. She wore stockings exactly like her mother's old ones, except Dara's were black not purple. And, to top off the ensemble, Dara wore her mother's old black combat boots.

Actually, it was those combat boots that originally made Dara want to be Goth. She had come across her mother's old boots in a box in the attic when she was ten. She really liked the way they looked and they fit her, and the rest is history.

Dara Fenton was the spitting image of her mother in high school, no doubt about it. From her gothic attire, to her ultra-recyclo vegetarian lifestyle (she's this because her mother absolutely refused to have any type of meat in the house), from her unique individuality, to her independent attitude and her utter distain for anything popular it was obvious to anyone in Amity Park that Dara was indeed the daughter of Sam Manson (well Fenton now).

The fact that Dara was, also, extremely stubborn and knew everything there was to know about anything ghostly related proved that she was indeed a Fenton as well. Anyone who knew them well would say that Dara was just like her father with all of her mother's attitude. Part Danny and part Sam, now that's a lethal combination.

"Well, that's all the training for today. You really did a great job. I'm so proud of you babygirl." Dara smiled at the use of the nickname her father had always used for her. He called her that the day she was born. He said he continued to call her that because in that one moment when he first saw her, he couldn't have loved her more. Yeah, she knew it was corny but that was her dad and she wouldn't change him for the world. Besides when her dad called her that she felt special, and even though she'd never admit it out loud she hoped he never stopped calling her that.

"Thanks Daddy." Dara said.

"Oh, yeah one more thing. What gray hair were you talking about?" Uh-oh. Dara knew that look. Her dad had that playful little smile on his face. He was going to attack. "I do not have gray hair young lady. You really should be careful who you insult."

"No! No, Daddy! Ahhhh!" With that Danny wrapped his arms around his daughter as he grabbed her in a huge bear hug, while she struggled in a futile attempt to escape. She couldn't help herself, Dara began to laugh. Dara's laugh was on of those wonderful contagious laughs that's so easily caught that soon Danny was laughing right along with her.

It was moments like these that made Dara love her dad so much. She loved her dad's laugh, and to be honest, Danny loved that pure sparkling laugh that could only belong to Dara. Her dad was the only one that could make Dara laugh like this, and after a day of being the sour one at school (she had a reputation of gothicness to uphold after all) it was nice to just let everything go goofing around with her dad like this. Just as they were starting to get mushy with their little father daughter moment, Danny and Dara were interrupted.

"Ah, what a sweet bonding moment you two are having." a muffled female voice said, "But ya'know I think it would be even sweeter if I could actually see it!" The now very annoyed voice Danny and Dara realized was coming from inside the Fenton Thermos which Dara was still holding in her hands.

"Gah!" Dara yelped in embarrassed surprise as she broke away from Danny and began fumbling with the thermos (in a very nervous way which resembled another 14-year old halfa). "Oh my god! I'm so sorry! I totally forgot you were still I there."

"Yeah, yeah. Excuses, excuses. Just get me outta here will ya! I'm getting squashed! This thermos isn't exactly the Taj Mahal! Now I know why all those ghosts we cram in here hate us so much! Geez, is it cramped in here!"

"Relax Danni we'll get you out of there in no time." Danny said in a rather calm voice (he'd been trapped in the Fenton Thermos, too, ya'know), "Dara, if you please." Per her dad's request, Dara quickly pushed the release button on the thermos and the masked ghost she had just been sparring with was pushed out. She floated right above the ground for a few seconds and then landed on the floor.

"Phew!" she said as she yanked off her mask, "I really hate being stuffed inside that thing." The mask was taken off along with the black material covering her regular jumpsuit to reveal Danny's half ghost cousin Danielle Phantom (Danni for short).

She looked exactly the same as she had when Danny first met her, except she was a little taller and obviously not 12 anymore but 32.

"Well if you hate it that much, just don't loose to her and you won't have to get shoved inside the thermos." Danny replied smirking at her. Danni cocked an eyebrow at her cousin.

"Ha-ha, very funny cuz. But ya'know what's even funnier? Seeing you get sucked inside the Fenton Thermos by Jazz three times in one night." (A/N: I know Danni wasn't in that episode, but I'm making up that it happened again and Danni was there, I mean 20 years have passed since the series.)

"That was years ago, and I haven't let her near any type of thermos since." Danny said defensively. Both Danni and Dara laughed at his remark. After all it was funny.

"Sorry about leaving you trapped in the thermos so long Danni, but after Daddy attacked me with his hugs I honestly forgot you were in there."

"Oh, I guess I'll have to forgive you Dara. After all, you are my favorite goddaughter."

"Ha! I'm your only goddaughter."

"Which automatically makes you my favorite."

"Gee, don't I feel special." Dara said rather sarcastically. Danni gave Dara a triumphant smile, and then walked over to a video monitor on the control panel.

"What'dd'ya doing Danni?" Danny asked.

"I wanna see what Dara's flying speed was when she rammed into me that last time." Danni said without taking her eyes off the monitor, "That last punch hit really hard. I feel like my jaw's been dislocated."

"Eh, ha, yeah. Sorry about that." Dara said in a rather apologetic whisper using her hand to rub the back of her neck, a nervous habit she had picked up from her father.

"Oh, that's alright sweetie. When you're in your ghost form facing an opponent you have to be ruthless. That's why I wear the mask, so you won't be thrown off guard. Besides my jaw'll heal quick. I just meant that your punch hit really hard, and I didn't have time to dodge so you must've been going faster than usual." There was a ding on the screen as Dara's flying speed came up. "Whoa!" Danni said in shock, "122 miles per hour! Unbelievable!"

"She was going 122 miles per hour?" Danny queried.

"No way!" Dara said in surprise as she hadn't felt that she was going that fast during the session.

But sure enough on the screen, there was Dara flying straight at Danni and in big bold black letters read Dara's speed, 122 mph.

"Wow!" Danni said, "That's almost double your top speed when you were her age cuz."

"Really? But that's impossible. I mean Daddy can break 250 flying easy."

"Yeah, now, but when your dad was 14 he could only reach 112 miles per hour, and you just clobbered that record. Isn't that right cuz?" Danni asked Danny playfully.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, right." Danny replied in a very dazed sort of way as if his mind had been somewhere else entirely. Danni noticed this, and took a closer look at her cousin.

She realized that ever since the mention of Dara's super fast flying time, Danny hadn't taken his eyes off his daughter. As Dara continued to stare in disbelief at her speed on the monitor, Danny was staring at her intently his eyes clouded over with worry. Just as Danni was about to say something to her cousin a new voice penetrated the silence via the intercom in the control room which linked the lab to every other room in the house.

"Are you guys finished training yet? Dinner's ready, it's time to eat." the voice of Sam Fenton said in a rather demanding tone (which was usual for her).

Dara ran over to the intercom on the wall realizing, by the grumble in her stomach, just how hungry she was (training with ghost powers can really work up an appetite).

"We'll be right up Mommy." Dara said into the intercom, "Sorry I guess we just lost track of time, but I've got something really cool to tell you when I get up there, which should be really soon because I'm starving!"

"Okay, hun, don't keep me waiting. You three get up here quick before dinner gets cold."

"Will do." With that Dara turned back to her dad and Danni. "Come on guys let's hurry and get upstairs. I'm starving!" With her last proclamation of hunger, Dara ran out of the control room leaving the two cousins alone.

Author's end notes: Well there you have it. Chapter one. I hoped you liked it. I thought it was pretty good. Sorry if it got a little long, and if it wasn't all that exciting but it was an introductory chapter. The next few chapters are going to be slightly introductory, too. Not that they're boring, they're just more showing you Dara's life and introducing the characters of the story. Don't worry it gets more exciting as the story goes on. Anyway, please keep reading it, and please review. But no flames please! I can take criticism, just as long as it's constructive. Thank you.

Danny's eyes had averted to the spot where his daughter had just been a second ago when she had run out of the room, however, Danny's mind still seemed to be somewhere else. Danni knew that look in her cousin's eyes anywhere. It had shown up for the first time the day Dara was born, when they realized Dara was born half-ghost, and it hadn't left his eyes since.

"Danny," Danielle said to her cousin in what she hoped was a comforting way, "do you want to talk about it?" There was no reply from Danny, but Danni knew he wanted to talk about it. Also, she knew they needed to talk about it (just so he wouldn't overreact if nothing else).

"Danny." she began again, "Danny I know that look. You can't keep worrying like this. You're gonna kill yourself. I mean you're already half dead, do you really wanna push it?" Danni tried to joke with her cousin to lighten the mood. When there was still no reply Danni knew she had to get more assertive to let Danny know she was serious.

"I know you're worried about her, but there's nothing more you can do for her. You're doing everything possible to make her life as easy as it can be. There's nothing you or anyone else can do for her. Danny are you listening…"

"She's strong Danni." Danny finally said cutting her off.

"Yeah, she's strong. She's got a lot of power."

"She's too strong Danni."

"Come on Danny…"

"Danielle, don't tell me it's not that bad or it's going to be okay like you always do!" Danny said in a deathly anger tone as he turned toward his cousin, his eyes now a fierce glowing green.

This would make most people falter, even Danni who was half-ghost herself. Since he had become a halfa at the age of 14, Danny had become probably the most powerful being in the Human World and the Ghostzone. Many ghosts feared him now, and most of the time all Danny had to do to get rid of them was give them that piercing glare. He didn't even have to transform into his ghostly half most of the time.

Needless to say most ghosts knew better then to mess with Danny's family, especially his daughter (he still had a bit of a temper after all). However, Danni was not threatening Dara, and she knew she could not falter now.

She had to calm Danny down. She really wished they could talk about this rationally just once. But since that didn't seem to have a chance of happening this time, Danni placed her cousin with a fierce glowing green eyed glare of her own.

"Don't you shoot those glowing green eyes at me Daniel Fenton. I'm not your enemy here. I know you're worried about her, but like it or not Dara's getting more powerful everyday and you can't stop it. You're doing everything you can to help her except the one thing you should be doing!"

"Oh, yeah! And what's that?" Danny shouted still shooting Danni his signature glare.

"Telling your daughter just how strong she really is." Danni shot right back still matching him glare for glare. At this remark Danny's anger seemed to subside as his glowing green eyes returned to their original blue. He began to rub the back of his neck kicking at the ground in defeated frustration.

"Man, Danni, why do you always make me loose my edge like that?" he asked even though he already knew the answer.

"Because you know I'm right." Danni said as she calmed down and transformed back into her human half Danni Fenton.

She looked exactly like Danny (except of course she was a girl). She had the same blue eyes and black hair, which she had in the same style ponytail that she always had (minus the hat she used to wear). She wore a red hooded sweatshirt, a pair of blue jeans with patches, and old sneakers that were so dirty they were starting to look more like a dark brown color than there original white. She looked over at her cousin with a comforting smile.

"Danny why don't you just tell her how strong she is? Maybe prepare her for the changes she's going to go through soon. You know they're coming. There's no getting around them. It's like our version of puberty." Danny gave his signature half smile at his cousin's joking remark, but it soon gave way to worry once again.

"Yeah, right, and exactly what am I supposed to tell her? That once when she was three and got angry she accidentally created a giant green tornado that nearly took out half the town. Or that when she was seven she got so mad she tapped into Fenton Works control center computer using some sort of electrical ghost energy, which by the way I have absolutely no idea where she got that power from, and started firing weapons right over the town. But she doesn't remember doing any of it! Is that what I'm supposed to tell her Danni?"

"Well, not in so many words, but yes." At this Danny gave a sigh of utter disbelief. "Well, Danny, come on what do you want me to say? You have to tell her soon. Besides you were the trigger for all of those things happening anyway."

"Huh?" Danny said in utter confusion.

"Sigh. Still as clueless as ever, aren't you? Danny didn't you notice that the only times Dara's ghost powers would go crazy like that was when you were in trouble?"

"That's ridiculous Danni."

"Oh, really? Then perhaps you'd like to remember that during all those times that Dara's anger went out of control you were in some sort of ghost fight."

"Yeah, but I was fighting ghosts all the time, and that didn't happen to Dara each time."

"And what exactly was happening during those particular fights?"

"Well, I might've been getting knocked around a little but, oh." Danny said as he finally figured out what Danni had been getting at. "Don't give me that look." Danny told his cousin as she was now giving him a very cocky triumphant smile. "You don't know everything."

"I do in this case. After all I'm the objective third party in this scenario. You and Sam get way too emotional when it comes to talking to Dara about her ghost powers. You need to hear the opinion of someone who is able to see the situation, but isn't to overprotective of the subject. That's where I come in."

"Come on Danni. You watch out for her, too."

"Yeah, but she's not my daughter." Danny had to smile at this remark. He loved being a father, and he loved his daughter very much. That's why he promised himself a long time ago that he would never let anything happen to her.

"I just want to protect her."

"I know you do Danny, but there's only so much a father can do. Especially in your case. We're half-ghosts Danny. We're despised in the Ghost Zone because we live among humans, and we're hated and feared in the Human World because they see us as creepy freaks of nature who are out to destroy them. So we're pretty much screwed either way, ha!" Danni had tried to cheer Danny up with an old joke they used to do, but Danny wasn't laughing.


	2. Chapter 2: Argument

Author▓s Note: Hey guys. If you▓re still reading this after my crazy first chapter, then god bless you. I don▓t know exactly how, but somehow part of my second chapter got uploaded as part of my first, which is why the ending of my first chapter looks so weird. Sorry about that, but my computer was acting really wacky. But give me a break I▓m new at this. Anyway, here▓s the rest of chapter two that you didn▓t see in chapter one. Just go with me on this. I promise the rest of the chapters will be less confusing.

Disclaimer: See chapter 1. Now on with the story!

Here▓s how the last part of my wacky chapter 1/ 2 ended. Ughh! Sometimes I hate my computer!

⌠We▓re half-ghosts Danny. We▓re despised in the Ghost Zone because we live among humans, and we▓re hated and feared in the Human world because they see us as creepy freaks of nature who are here to destroy them. So we▓re pretty much screwed either way, ha!■ Danni had tried to cheer Danny up with an old joke they used to do, but Danny wasn▓t laughing.

Chapter 2: Argument

⌠Not in the mood for jokes, huh? I▓m really starting to regret ever looking at Dara▓s flying speed. Oh, Danny it▓s not that bad. Certainly not as bad as when we were growing up. You▓ve made some great strides for ghosts, and almost everyone in the Human world actually likes us.■

⌠Almost.■

⌠Well it▓s better than being Public Enemy number one, Inviso-bill.■

⌠Ha-ha!■ Danny had to laugh at this. It had been so long since anyone had called him that.

⌠Good! I made you laugh. Now I can move in for the kill.■ Danni said this part mostly to herself. ⌠Danny, listen, you have done absolutely everything you can do for Dara, and because of it she▓s going to have an easier time then we did. Stop worrying so much. Dara will be fine. After all, she was trained by the best.■

⌠You▓re just copying Dara with that comment Danni.■

⌠Yeah, but I meant it. We both had the same trainer remember?■ Both cousins smiled at the memories this brought up, but Danni knew she had to get serious. If she wanted Danny to tell Dara she had to keep pushing him (she knew how stubborn he could be, she was the same way after all).

⌠Promise me you▓ll tell her?■

⌠I promise.■

⌠Danny?■ Danni said giving her cousin a very skeptical I-don▓t-believe-a-single-word-you-say look.

⌠What? I will.■

⌠You will what Daddy?■ came Dara▓s voice from the doorway. She had come back looking for her dad and Danni after she realized they weren▓t behind her. Needless to say, the two cousins were a little shocked to hear her voice (especially Danny). Dara was still looking at her father with a questioning stare, so Danny had to think fast on what to answer (answering the truth would▓ve been faster but┘).

⌠I will.. Have to make sure that the training machines are turned off so they don▓t cause a circuit to blow.■ Danny said as he walked over to the control panel for the machines (which actually were still on). 

Danny had been lying for so long he could lie to anyone now, even his daughter. He didn▓t like to, but he could. His cousin, however, was not as subtle. Danni gave an exasperated sigh as she whacked one hand on to her forehead.

⌠What▓s wrong Danni?■ Dara asked (she, of course, had believed her father). Danni took her hand off her forehead and looked at her cousin fumbling with the controls so nervously making him resemble for all the world like his 14-year-old self.

⌠Oh, nothing. Just your dad always forgetting to do important things, even when he has to do them.■ Danni almost shouted this last part at her cousin. Making Danny glare back at her with a cocked eyebrow. It▓s a good thing Dara is as clueless as her dad or she might▓ve noticed this little exchange.

⌠Oh, well that▓s not that bad. After all, it▓s just turning off some machines.■ Dara said still completely oblivious, ⌠Are you guys coming? You know how Mommy gets when dinner gets cold.■

⌠Yep. We better hurry if we want to eat tonight.■ Danny said walking over toward the door. With one last smile Dara left the room again. Danny was about to follow when he felt a cold glare of disappointment on his back.

He turned around to face his cousin, who was firmly standing in the center of the room with her arms crossed over her chest giving Danny a glare that made her blue eyes look just as deadly as her green ones.

⌠Well I guess lying really does pass for protection between fathers and daughters.■

⌠Come on Danni┘■

⌠No, no. I understand you▓re just trying to protect her. And I▓m sure Dara will see it that way, too, when her powers go out of control again and she has no idea what▓s going on or how to handle it and then you have to tell her.■ she said in a horribly venomous voice. Danny didn▓t know what to say to that. He knew that Danni still had some unresolved problems in the area of father daughter relationships.

⌠Hey,■ Danny said starting to glare right back at her, ⌠I promised I▓d tell her and I will.■

For awhile Danni looked like she might just stand in that position until she turned to stone, but then she uncrossed her arms, slouched a little, and gave another exasperated sigh. No matter how clever she was, Danny always managed to win in the end.

She knew this was as far as she was going to get on the subject today, but hey there was always tomorrow. So Danni simply gave a nod of understanding to her cousin and followed Dara out the door. Danny closed the door to the control room and followed after her.

He promised he would tell Dara about her immense power. He didn▓t promise it would be today.

So there▓s chapter 2. Sorry that it▓s so short, but like I said earlier my computer uploaded the beginning of this chapter as part of chapter 1, and I didn▓t think you guys would want to read that part twice. As for the story I▓m not trying to make Danny seem like a bad guy for lying to his daughter. He is really just trying to protect her. And yes this feud between Danny and Danni has been going on for awhile as you can probably tell. Well that▓s all till next time. Again sorry about the length. Please read and review! 


	3. Chapter 3: The Lab and Dinner

**Hey guys! I need to explain the last chapter. Once again my computer has betrayed me. I have absolutely no idea why the previous chapter looks like that. All I know is that it did not look like that on my screen when I uploaded it, but it did look like that when it got put into the story. I'm guessing it's some sort of computer malfunction, but in case you haven't already noticed I'm not exactly computer savvy. I hope this chapter doesn't turn out like the last one, but if it does I am so sorry. I'd, also, like to say sorry about the long wait for an update. I've just been so busy lately with a summer camp I did and going to the beach I haven't had much time at my computer. But thank you to those who are still reading, and a big thank you to those who are reviewing. They help really keep it up! **

**Disclaimer: No I still don't own anything! Now on with the story!**

Chapter 3: The Lab and Dinner

Dara, Danni, and Danny walked out of the control room and made their way through the rest of the lab which, by the way, was enormous. The lab had clean white steel walls everywhere, and as the threesome walked down the stairs which lead to the lower levels of the lab they could see a metallic desk surrounded by video monitors and a giant computer screen.

This was, of course, Danny's desk which he used to keep tabs on the Human world and the Ghost Zone. Since both worlds are linked and since Danny was protecting earth he thought he should look after the Ghost Zone, too. Besides not all ghosts were bad, and Danny had made some pretty good friends in many of the ghosts in the Ghost Zone over the years. There were still plenty of ghosts who didn't like him at all, but no one can be Mr. Popular everywhere.

The lab, also, held a giant sized room with phone links to the Ghost Zone, a full supply of ghost fighting equipment stacked on shelves and in hidden compartments, and at the far back of the lab there was of course a Ghost Portal.

This was the dually named Phantom Headquarters. This place had pretty much everything needed to protect a town (or another dimension), and it even took distress calls. However, if one were to take a good look around they might notice this place looked more like it was ready for war, or something just like it.

This lab was not like the one at Fenton Works. Aside from the obvious, it wasn't in the basement. Phantom H.Q. was actually underneath the basement of Danny's house. It was hidden from view and never showed up on radar or any other surveillance devices. The only people could even find this place were people who already knew it was here, which was very few. Only about a handful of people knew it existed, and out of them only a few had the ability to get past security.

Danny had gotten pretty good with Ghost Tech and security equipment over the years (he had to break through enough security to be an expert by now). Plus Danny knew all the types of beings that could break in so his security systems prepared for all of them. Nowadays most buildings were secure against humans and ghosts, however, Danny had taken it a step further and protected against half-ghosts as well (you never know).

To be fair though, his house was probably the only place that could defend against half-ghost intruders simply because Danny and his family were some of the only people that knew such a thing as a halfa did exist. Everyone else on earth did not believe for one second that a human could, also, be a ghost, and no one was going to have security against something they were sure didn't exist. This ignorance that humans seemed to have was what helped Danny and his family stay under the radar of even the most advanced ghost tracking devices for all these years.

Even though Vlad had made a spectacle of himself years ago during the time of the Disasteroid, by revealing himself to the whole world as Vlad Plasmius Danny's family was still relatively safe from prying eyes. When Vlad was revealed most people couldn't wrap their minds around the idea of someone being half dead, so word eventually got around that Vlad had always been a ghost with no human part whatsoever. Of course, a certain other half-ghost and friends knew otherwise, but what the public doesn't know can't hurt them. Besides Vlad hadn't been seen in years, so it made life easier for Danny's family just to keep up that little half lie.

Anyway back in the lab...

Now with all this security one might wonder why Danny has a ghost portal right inside his lab. Well the answer to this quandary is simple. As secret as Danny's underground lab bunker was, the entrance to Danny's ghost portal through the Ghost Zone was an even bigger secret. Only a select few ghosts knew where the entrance was and they kept this secret well hidden among them. Danny Phantom, after all, still had many enemies in the Ghost Zone that would absolutely love to see him blown to pieces.

Most ghost didn't even know of the existence of another always working portal, and they really didn't bother looking for another escape route to the Human World (they still had the portal at Fenton Works to use after all). So Danny and his family were pretty much safe from a random ghost attack coming from inside their house. And if a horribly lost unidentified specter did happen to wander into Phantom H.Q. via the portal sirens, alarms, and weapon systems would go off like there was an air raid going on.

As the three halfas made there way through the lab and over to the elevator that would take them back up to the basement, Danny watched the two girls. Dara was wandering aloud what her mother had made for dinner by jabbering on and on about her favorite foods. Danny noticed that his daughter always rambled like this whenever she was hungry. Food seemed to be the only thing on her mind (not that she overate or anything, but when she was hungry she just couldn't get her mind off of food). Danni was somewhat paying attention to Dara's long list of foods, and it appeared she had calmed down a bit since their argument. Danny was glad. He really didn't like arguing with her, especially when she was right.

As they all clambered into the elevator, Dara was still rambling on about Mung Bean Salads and Tofu Melts. As the doors closed and the elevator lifted the three Fentons up to the basement, Danny just couldn't help thinking how carefree and innocent his daughter was. He would hate to take that away from her.

The doors opened to a relatively small, but completely normal basement of a seemingly normal house in the calm never changing town of Amity Park. As the group exited the elevator they caught a glimpse of the security scanner on the elevator. This scanner was a highly advanced piece of technology. It came with a complete bio scan. There was a hand print scan, an entire retina scanner, and a computer voice that said who it was and if their DNA had been accepted or not.

With one last look the doors closed sending the elevator back down to Phantom H.Q. leaving nothing behind but a blank basement wall. Next to the part of the wall where the elevator had just been hung a small red box which looked just like a circuit breaker that any normal basement would have. However, this was no normal basement. Inside this circuit breaker box was a keypad which, if the correct numbers were punched in, would open up the secret wall door leading to the elevator and ultimately to Phantom H.Q.

However, now that the elevator had been concealed by the wall, the Fenton family basement looked like just that. A basement, and not a very big basement at that. The only thing that made this basement seem a little out of the ordinary was the fact that about half of it was concealed by a giant dark purple curtain. Behind this curtain was Danni's makeshift room. It hade a bed, a dresser for Danni's clothes, a rug, and any other necessities that would be needed for a room. Danni would sometimes complain to her cousin that her room was, too, small and she couldn't fit all her things into such a tiny space. Danny would always reply to that by saying that this wasn't a small room but a large basement. A large basement that she was staying in rent free. At the mention of rent Danni would quickly shut up. Not that she actually believed Danny would ever start charging her for living with them.

Danielle had first come to live with the Fentons when she was 14. Since Danny's parents already knew of his secret it was slightly less awkward to explain Danni to them. After hearing the whole story, Jack and Maddie enthusiastically accepted Danni as their niece (Jack perhaps a little, too, enthusiastically as his reaction caused the newly modified Fenton Foamer to explode all over Danny and Danni). Jazz was, also, exceptionally excited saying that Danni would be like the little sister she always wanted.

Unfortunately for Jazz, since Danni was created from Danny's genes she ended up being more of a tomboy and liked to hang out with guys more. But Jazz and Danni found as much common ground as they could.

One might've thought that the sudden appearance of the Fentons' niece, who looked identical to their son, would've drawn a lot of attention from the people of Amity Park. Especially considering Danni really had no history, no records, and according to government data bases didn't even exist. However, thanks to one very clever techno geek, that problem was easily overcome. Danni soon received a birth certificate registering her as Danielle Marie Fenton, and very soon after that the government's mainframe got an upgrade containing Danni's entire history up through age 14. She was then easily registered as a freshmen at Casper High School. Luckily Danni had all the knowledge that a regular 14 year old would have because of the way she was created, and could handle herself at a high school level. However, since she had been created from Danny's genes and helped him with ghost fighting, handling herself meant just barely passing but who needs to be that picky?

Her grades may not have been that good, but on the social circuit Danni was everywhere. She wasn't particularly popular, but she was very nice, outgoing, and free spirited so a lot of people liked her, especially the boys. Danni may have been a tomboy, but a lot of boys in school thought she was way hot. There were so many popular boys pining for her affection. So many boys giving her flattering compliments as she passed them in the halls. So many boys that, in Danni's opinion, were... the biggest most annoying idiots on the face of the planet! Couldn't they see she was not interested. Couldn't they hear her telling them to back off. These guys would just not take no for an answer. No matter how many times Danni would tell them to leave her alone they would all come back with a vengeance. If she hadn't promised Danny she wouldn't use her ghost powers on humans she would've blasted their heads off (she did blast several of the exceptionally annoying ones a little every once and awhile, but hey nobody's perfect).

But a problem like the one Danni had gets taken care of rather quickly when you have an overprotective half-ghost cousin. The onslaught of guy admirers came to an abrupt halt one day when one Dash Baxter made the biggest mistake of his life. To put it simply his hitting on Danni went a little to far and before he knew it the once tough bully was flat on the ground eating dirt after being beat up severely by someone who everyone thought to be a wimpy loser.

After Danny Fenton's historical pummeling of Dash Baxter, Danni's annoying boy problem all but disappeared. Danni did go out on dates when she found guys that weren't so annoyingly persistent, but she never stayed with anyone long. After all those guys pining for her affection, at 32 years old Danni still remained completely unattached. Danni always did have a problem with commitment whenever it came to matters of the heart.

However, other than a few persistent guys Danni's life was great after she moved in with the Fentons. And as far as anyone in Amity Park was concerned, she was Danielle Marie Fenton a.k.a Danni, who as now living in Amity Park in the custody of her aunt and uncle Jack and Maddie Fenton. She had been placed with her aunt and uncle because her father was a single, psychotic, stupid, manipulative, lying, crazy, bitter, old, colossal fruit loop who one day up and left Danni in order to go somewhere with a bit more... space. (A/N: Ha-ha! Funny right? And yes I am talking about Vlad just in case nobody got that.)

Danni had moved out of Fenton Works when Danny and Sam moved into their new house when Dara was 7. She moved in with Danny, Sam, and Dara for many reasons, but mostly because Dara was so used to her being so close. Danni may be Dara's godmother, but Dara always thought of her as more like a cool big sister, and Danny and Sam needed an in house babysitter at the time anyway so it worked out really well. Besides Danny had been looking out for his cousin since they were in high school, and Sam and Danni had gotten really close over the years, too, so they were happy to let Danni stay with them.

Now one might wonder why Danni's room was in the basement, especially when her cousin seems to have enough money to build such an extravagant lab. Well one reason was that Danni could stand guard against any intruders in the lab (no matter how unlikely that was), but a bigger reason was that the house in which the family lived was not very big at all and certainly did not give off even the slightest hint that the people who lived inside could afford the lab under the basement.

The truth was that Danny's family really didn't have much money and their home wasn't very large. The house was rather old, consisting of a first floor which held a living room and a kitchen, and a second floor which contained two bedrooms one for Dara and one for her parents. There was a third bedroom, but it was rather small and was pretty much filled with a bunch of the family's junk. There was, also, a small attic and of course the basement.

As for money, they made enough to live off of but it was always kind of tight. Being the town hero is a big very important job , but it doesn't exactly cover you financially (we can't all be Bruce Wayne) especially when you suddenly become a parent.

Dara had come along quite unexpectedly to Danny and Sam while they were in college. That was why they moved in with Danny's parents at Fenton Works for those first few years. Dara was definitely a surprise, but her parents always considered her a blessing.

When Danny and Sam decided it was time to move out there were lots of hysterics and "we'll miss yous" from Jack and Maddie. Even though they only moved two blocks away and could see Fenton Works from their house, there was still plenty of crying and blubbering from the parental units. They insisted on giving them something, but Danny and Sam refused saying they had already given them enough. Nevertheless, one day after Danny, Sam, Dara, and Danni came home after being out all day they found that their basement had a new edition courtesy of Jack and Maddie Fenton.

Yes, the lab was built by Jack and Maddie and yes Jack is the one that named it Phantom Headquarters. No one's quite sure where they got the money for such a lab, but it was thought they got some ghostly assistance. Tucker, also, aided the Fentons with the technological stuff. It was the least he could do after they let him sleep on their couch for three years those times he got evicted from his apartments (Tucker wasn't the most responsible person in those years).

As anyone could see the Fentons were very close, and Dara was close with her whole family. Well, her dad's side of the family anyway. Truthfully Dara had never met her mother's family except for her mom's grandmother, Granny Manson. However, Dara didn't see her very much considering she lived down in Naples, Florida, where apparently she was the Queen of Dance at the Naples Community Center, and she did all her dancing from her motor scooter. Dara had never met her grandparents on her mother's side, though. Her mom doesn't talk about her parents much and told Dara that they died years ago in a terrible car accident involving a cat, a blocked road sign, and a vat of radioactive waste. Dara wasn't entirely sure if she believed that story, but no one seemed inclined to talk about the Mansons so she didn't push the matter.

All in all the Fentons had made a pretty good life for themselves. Sure Dara knew money was tight, but they were happy (most of the time) and her whole family loved each other a lot.

"Wow, it's really cool that we're all actually going to sit down and eat together. I feel like I've been so busy with high school starting and everything that I haven't gotten to see you much this past week." Dara said as they made their way up the stairs.

"Yeah, it's been awhile since we actually were able to get through a whole dinner without being interrupted by work or some weird random ghost attack. Can't those guys ever wait till finish dinner to attack?" Danni said half joking, half serious.

"Well we better hurry up and get upstairs or Sam may not let us eat dinner if we make her wait, too, long." Danny joked making both girls laugh.

"Well come on then you two slow pokes." Dara said running up the stairs her combat boots making a huge amount of noise as she went.

"We're coming and we are not slow pokes, or at least I'm not." Danny said with a grin towards Danni.

"Ho-ho funny cuz." Danni said, jokingly punching her cousin in the shoulder as they both quickly followed Dara up the stairs.

DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDDPDPDP

"Ha-ha! Yeah, and then Danni blasted me with her ecto sound waves and I got thrown against the ceiling, but then I was able to surprise attack her with a punch to the jaw. A few moves later I had Danni crammed inside the Fenton Thermos." Dara recollected.

"Wow, honey that's really impressive. I'm so proud of you. You've really been training hard. But Danni I can't believe you slammed my daughter into the ceiling like that." Sam Fenton said getting a rather stern look on her face. All four Fentons were now sitting around the kitchen table finishing what was left of their dinner (which was all vegetarian of course).

"Well, Sam, I'm just doing what'ch'ya pay me for. Hey wait! You don't pay me! Y'know now that she's beating me I think I should have some kind of compensation for being crammed inside that thermos." Danni said.

"We let you live here for free that's your compensation." Danny retorted.

"Yeah, but I thought that was my compensation for babysitting Dara not for training her." Danni countered.

"Yes, but now Dara's older and needs a training partner not a babysitter." Sam said.

"Point and match. Do you always have to win Sam?"

"I tend to, yes." Everyone laughed at this.

Sam really had grown up into a beautiful young woman. She was definitely a very beautiful and desirable woman. Thanks to her vegetarian lifestyle, her good exercise regiment, plus all those ghost fights with Danny, Sam was very physically fit. And if anyone thought that her unique individuality was just a phase that would fade away as she got older, they were wrong.

Sam was still very much a Goth. She wore black pants, a dark purple sleeveless top (that did cover her whole upper body unlike the one she wore in high school), she still even wore the same purple lipstick. She now, also, wore black sneakers since she had passed her cargo boots on to her daughter. Her black hair was a bit longer now reaching past her shoulders and down her back a little, but she normally always put it up messily in a clip with strands of hair hanging out like she did now. Sam still had those same violet eyes that could turn into a horrible death glare or show caring and compassion depending on what was needed at the time. So, like her husband, Sam really hadn't changed all that much except her last name was now Fenton instead of Manson.

Also, on her mom's right shoulder, Dara looked at her Sam's very interesting tattoo of a very familiar symbol. It was the DP logo of the famous Danny Phantom which Sam had gotten in her high school years.

That particular tattoo had become sort of a fashion statement after Danny Phantom saved the world from the Disasteroid. However, Sam made it a point to let people know that her tattoo was making a statement of social protest in support of Danny Phantom. Even after he saved the world, there were still several people who held Ban the Phantom rallies, totally convinced in their delusional world that Danny Phantom saving the world was part of some diabolical that he had to eat their livers or something just as ridiculous. Basically what it came down to was that no matter how much good he did, some people could just never bring themselves to trust a ghost. Oh, well, every hero always has to have a few critics.

There weren't enough people opposing him to cause a massive ghost hunt for him, but Sam wanted to make sure everyone knew about her Support the Phantom (which is what the tattoos came to be called). Many followed in Sam's footsteps getting Support the Phantom tattoos, including all the members of Team Phantom. Danny had one on his right forearm (he's not being egotistical but he has to support himself, nobody knows he's Phantom anyway), Danni got one on her neck, and Tucker got one on his hand. Even Jazz got one on her arm saying that for her brother she could act like a rebellious teen just this once.

Dara really wanted to get a Support the Phantom, too. She, of course, wanted to support her dad and maybe even someday herself.

"Oh, yeah, Mommy I forgot to tell you. I got my flying speed checked after I rammed into Danni and it was 122 miles per hour! Isn't that cool!"

"Whoa, 122 miles per hour. Really Dara? That's almost double your dad's speed at your age." Sam said a little shocked and slightly worried as she cast a glance over at Danny who had suddenly stiffened up. Sam wondered briefly why Danny hadn't overreacted immediately and came running up the stairs in massive panic. He usually did when something like this happened.

"Yeah, that's what Danni said, too, but I couldn't believe it." Dara said as Danni cast an uncomfortable smile at Sam.

Danni, of course. She had talked to Danny before they came up to cool him down a little. Sam was sure that they had, also, had that same argument that they had been having since Dara was three which would explain for the tension suddenly added to the table. Sam wanted to talk to Danny about this, but she didn't want to talk about it in front of Dara.

"That is very impressive Dara. You obviously have much more control of your powers then your father did at your age. I mean when he was 14, he was still accidentally turning his lower body intangible and having his pants fall down on a regular basis." Sam said in an attempt to try and change the subject.

"Hey! That was after I first got my powers! I didn't know what I was doing!" Danny said defensively. Sam gave a sly smile. It had worked. They'd talk later.

"Yeah, but that still doesn't sound as bad as when you blasted a ghost ray out of your back door." Danni chimed in.

"Hey! That doesn't count. I had lost my memory at the time and... wait a second how'd you know about that?" Danny asked.

"Sam told me." Danni answered with a smirk.

"SAM!" Danny exclaimed.

"What? Oh, come on it was pretty funny looking back." Sam said innocently through fits of laughter.

"I could've died!" Danny said exasperated.

"But you didn't. And I saved your butt by wishing everything back to normal, you sucked Desiree into the thermos looking very cute doing it by the way, and right now," Sam said leaning over and giving Danny a quick peck on the cheek, "you just need to relax." Sam said as their eyes locked. Danny knew what she was talking about.

"Okay, then I think we'd better get dinner cleaned up." Sam said getting up out of her seat. "Dara can you get the dishwasher ready?"

"Sure thing mom I... Oh my gosh! Is it 8:00 already! I've gotta go!" Dara yelled in surprise as she noticed the clock and hurried out of the kitchen towards the front door.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Danny called after his daughter.

"I've got to get over to Conner's. I have to ask him about something in our English homework. Mommy, I'm so sorry but I should be right back and I'll help with the dishes then." Dara said apologetically to her mother.

"No, that's okay hun. Your dad and Danni can take care of the dishes, you just work on your homework."

"What?!" both cousins exclaimed in unison. They would've protested more, but Sam gave them both her infamous death glare and they quickly agreed retracting their previous out burst.

"Thanks guys you rock!" Dara said giving a little chuckle at how easy it was for her mother to make them do anything as she opened the door.

"Hey Dara!" Danny called as Danni and Sam started cleaning up the dishes.

"Yeah Daddy?" Dara said turning back to face him with those eyes so much like his own.

"Just be careful, okay?" Dara had to laugh at this bit of over protectiveness.

"Daddy relax, I'm just going across the street."

"Humor me."

"Okay, okay, I promise I'll be careful."

"Thank you." Dara chuckled to herself rolling her eyes as she went out the door. As Danny watched his daughter close the door behind her he wondered if she'd ever be ready to hear about her power, and if he'd ever be ready to tell her.

**So there you have it. Another chapter. I'd like to say once again that I am totally sorry about how long it took me to update. I, also, would like to say I have some bad news. I'm going away on vacation to France and Britain for 10 days (Lucky me! Yeah!). That being said, I won't be able to update this story for awhile, but don't worry I am going to see this story all the way through and I will update as soon as I can. Wait for me! Thanks!**

**Here are just some things you can think about if want while I'm gone.**

**What kind of power does Dara have?**

**Who is Conner?**

**What is Dara's English homework and why does she need to ask a question about it? (huge question I know)**

**Here's just one more thing that won't be answered for awhile, but will eventually come full circle. What really happened to the Mansons? I hope that it was obvious that what Sam said happened to them isn't really what happened. I tried to make it as ridiculous as possible. But that leaves the questions, What did happen to them? Are they really dead, and if not why would Sam lie to her daughter about them?**

**All these questions and more will be answered in the saga of Dara Phantom. So keep reading, and see you next update. Until then, as they say in France, au revoir!**


	4. Chapter 4: Cousins

**Well guys, I'm back from Europe! It was awesome! I know you're all jealous, but I hope this update makes it up to you. Sorry for how long it took, but I'll try to get the next chapter updated sooner. School has started for me so I can't make any promises but I'll try! And I just wanna say I still don't own anything Danny Phantom related. Thank you. Now on with the story!**

Chapter 4: Cousins

Dara walked down the front steps of her house, and started to walk across the street to the house on the other side. It had gotten dark rather quickly tonight, and Dara soon realized the street lights weren't on. Not that she was afraid of the dark or anything, but jus to make sure she didn't trip over a big pot hole in the road Dara turned on her Ghost Vision.

Ghost Vision was an ability Dara's dad had discovered in his sophomore year in high school. It was the ability that a ghost had that enabled them to see everything at all times in any kind of weather or in any kind of light. It was, also, one of the few powers they could use blatantly around humans without fear of being caught.

The reason for this being that when a halfa's Ghost Vision was activated it only made a glowing green rim appear around their iris, so the only way for a human to notice would be if they stared really closely at their eyes for awhile. So with her Ghost Vision activated, Dara Fenton had a slight bright green color to her otherwise blue eyes and was able to see everything that lay in the dark. With a power like this at her disposal Dara's parents never had to worry about her being afraid of the dark, and Dara never had to worry about bringing a flashlight. Thinking of her parents, Dara started to wonder about something that had started to bug her.

"Why was dad so worried about me tonight?" Dara asked out loud, "It's not like I haven't gone out at night before, and I'm just going across the street. Something is definitely up with him."

Dara's feet kept moving as she pondered this. She had been so deep in thought about her dad's odd reactions that night that she didn't even realize she had reached her destination and accidentally phazed through the door to the house. Dara often phazed through stuff unknowingly when she was thinking hard about something but needed me to be somewhere else (hey her ghost powers were second nature to her). She noticed that she wasn't in the street anymore when her intensified vision revealed that there was much more light in the area all of sudden. Dara stopped her train of thought and looked around.

"Darnit!" she exclaimed in frustration, "I did it again, and here I thought I had kicked that habit."

"Use the door much. It is there for a reason you know. Why not try using it every once and awhile like a normal person?" Dara spun around at the sound of a new voice. Dara was met with the very annoyed glare of a teenage girl. In response to the girl's comment Dara gave a sly smile and cocked an eyebrow in a way that resembled her mother so much someone might expect Sam's voice to fly out of the halfa's mouth.

"Jackie, Jackie." Dara said in a matter of fact tone, "We've been through this before. As you know I am not normal. Never have been, never will be, and never wanna be."

"Yeah, I know, but phazing through doors is still rude Dara. Most people like their privacy." Jackie retorted in a away that so much resembled her mother Jazz that you'd swear they were the same person. However, if you mentioned this to Jackie she'd probably rip out your spleen. If there was ever a daughter who so deeply didn't want to be like her mother it was Jackie Fenton. And yes, it is Fenton since things between Jackie's mother and father never really worked out. (A/N: The father of Jazz's kids is a mystery, even to me. He's not important and will never turn up physically in the story or anywhere in my writings so don't worry about, and just try to follow my thought process okay.)

Jackie was 15 years old and a sophomore at Casper High School. She had long orangey red hair same as her mom which she always wore down, and she had her mother's teal blue eyes as well. Truthfully Jackie did look exactly like her mother as a teenager, that is if Jazz had been a rebellious rule breaking teenager. Jackie had done everything in her power to be absolutely nothing like hr mother. From her attitude, to her clothes, to her problem with authority, Jackie was the exact opposite of her mother. The only thing they seemed to have in common was their grades. Yes, the infamous Jackie Fenton did get straight A's in school. She was rebellious not stupid (Jazz and Jackie actually have more in common then grades but Jackie won't admit it).

Tonight Jackie was wearing her usual outfit of dark blue jeans that she had ripped holes in at the knees, a navy blue tank top with a number 1 on it that exposed her midriff, regular white sneakers, and blood red lipstick. Dara, also, noticed that Jackie had added a light white jacket to her ensemble now that she was home, but Dara knew that her cousin was only wearing it to hide the new belly button ring she had gotten from her mother who had strongly forbidden her t get it. Dara wondered why Jackie even asked her mother for permission if she was just going to go and do it anyway. What was the point? Probably just to blatantly show that she was defying her mother Dara figured.

Though why her aunt would even care about Jackie getting a belly button ring was a mystery to Dara, considering all the metal Jackie had hanging from her ears. She had so many earrings that she could set off metal detectors all over town. Her one ear even had earrings going from her cartilage all the way to the top of her ear.

Jackie was a wild one alright, but she never did anything, too, bad. She just disobeyed a few rules here and there, like cutting class for instance. She would sometimes help Dara fight ghosts (Jackie of course knew of her cousin's and uncle's ghost powers) but Dara was really happy when she didn't help. Jackie may not want to be like her mother but she aims like her. At the moment, however, Jackie was still placing Dara with an annoyed glare for just phazing into her house unannounced.

"Oh, come on, Jackie. It's not like I phazed into your room or something." Dara said.

"You did phaze into my room remember?"

"Yeah, I do, but I was 4, we were living with Gramps and Gram, and it was my room, too, since we both shared it along with Conner!" exclaimed a frustrated Dara. Clearly Dara and Jackie's relationship mirrored Danny and Jazz's. It was rather funny to the family.

"Ugh! I never get any privacy with you!" Jackie yelled.

"Well it's not like I was trying to enter your private domain Jackie."

"Hmm. Anyway, don't you have some ghost patrol to go on so you can stop bothering me?"

"No. No ghost activity tonight. Don't you have to get something else pierced?" Dara curtly replied.

"Says the girl with two holes in each ear."

"It's better then the ten you've got. Besides I asked my parents if it was okay before I got it done, unlike some people."

"Whatever." Jackie said while placing headphones on her ears in order to out her cousin. Dara was just about to come back with a witty insult when another voice was heard coming out of the kitchen.

"Oh, Dara. I thought I heard your voice. Funny, though, I didn't hear a knock at the door." Jazz Fenton said as she stepped into the hall.

Jazz had the same orangey red hair that her daughter had only hers was tied back in a ponytail hanging down her back. She had the same eyes, too, and she had grown a little taller since her high school days. Honestly, Jazz and Jackie looked so much alike you'd swear Jackie was her mother's rebellious mini me. Jazz was wearing her normal ensemble of nice blue pants and a pink blouse. Truthfully her aunt had always been a bit, too, perky for Dara's tastes, but she figured if her mother could find a way to get along with Jazz she could, too.

Jazz had grown up to be a psychiatrist and worked in a small practice a little ways out of town. Since it was a smaller practice dealing mostly with a less than rich clientele, Jazz didn't make millions from her job but it paid the bills. Dara loved her aunt a lot, even though she could be rather annoying when she started to psychoanalyze everything Dara said, but she did that to everyone so Dara usually just let it slide

"Yeah, sorry about that Aunt Jazz, but I sort of accidentally phazed through your door without noticing it." Dara said apologetically.

"Can't even think to use the frikin' door. Doesn't even think about being seen." Jackie muttered under her breath, but Dara heard her.

"Shut up Jackie!" Dara shouted.

"Now hold on a minute Dara. Jackie has a point." Jazz said in an attempt to stop another world war from igniting as both girls looked up at her in surprise. "You really need to be more careful when using your powers. What if someone had seen you? I know it's dark." Jazz said putting up a hand to stop the protest Dara was about to make, "But even so you need to be more careful, and... whoa." Jazz said a realization dawning on her. Hadn't she had s similar conversation somewhere before? "This is major deja vu. I swear for a second their Dara I thought you were Danny. Sometimes it amazes me how much you're like him, and that makes me worry even more."

Dara smiled. This wasn't the first time her aunt had compared her to her father.

"Don't worry Aunt Jazz. I usually am really careful. Tonight I was just... thinking about something." Dara finished quickly.

"Really? What was it?" Jazz queried. Dara kind of knew the question would be coming, but she wasn't sure how to answer. She didn't want to tell her aunt that her dad had seemed to be acting more worried about her then usual. She was his sister after all, and hearing that would mean a one way ticker for her dad to a therapy session with Jazz. Or worse it could lead to one of her aunt's terrifying "family meetings." They were the worst! In order to avoid that horribly cruel torture Dara did what any self respecting teenager would do: lied through her teeth.

"Oh, I was just thinking about the homework I have for Lancer's class. Actually that's why I came over. I need to ask Conner a question about it. Is he here?" Yes! Dara told a completely believable lie with a little bit of truth in it without stuttering, and changed the topic at the end. Danny has trained her well.

"Oh, yes he is. I believe he's upstairs doing his homework." Jazz said. Dara's lie was so foolproof, Jazz had completely believed it. Suddenly the loud banging noise of someone playing the drums was heard coming from upstairs.

"And that's the sign that he's finished his homework." Jackie said.

"I'll go tell him you're here to see him Dara. Oh, and Jacquelyn," Jazz said very sternly turning on her daughter, "I heard the tone of voice you were using earlier and I must say I do not approve. I, also, do not want to hear that type of language in this house young lady. Do you understand me?"

"Alright, alright mom jeez. Sorrry, I'll make sure to never use that "language" in your presence again." Jackie said scornfully.

"Did you get something pierced?" Jazz asked accusingly.

"What? No! Why would you ask that?" Jackie said a little, too, quickly in her shock.

"Because you've been behaving much more frustrated and annoyed than usual today and the last time you acted like this was when you got that extra hole in the upper part of your ear that I told you not to get." Jazz said in an all-knowing sort of way.

"Well, I didn't get anything pierced mom." Jackie said as she pressed her jacket closer around her to hide even more the belly button ring Dara knew was there. "Really."

"Well alright then." Jazz said in a tone that seemed to say I believe you for now. "I'll go get Conner for you Dara." Jazz said turning back to her niece, and with that she went up the stairs towards the sounds of drumming to her son's room. As soon as her aunt was out of earshot Dara turned back to Jackie.

"Y'know, she's gonna find out about that belly button ring sooner or later."

"Not unless somebody tells her." Jackie said in a you better not tone.

"Chill out would'ya." Dara said putting her hands up defensively, "I'm not gonna say anything. I don't need to get mixed up in all that drama. If you wanna go all rebel teen and defy your mom that's your deal."

"Oh, please! Like you would know anything about rebelling. You've never done anything your parents told you not to."

"Hey! Hey! According to the majority of authority figures I'm totally rebellious. I mean have you seen the way I dress, act , and talk to people. It's just kinda hard to rebel against your parents when they accept every single thing you do."

"Man Uncle Danny and Aunt Sam give you total free range don't they Dara."

"Oh come on Jackie, you know that's not true. My parents are totally smothering overprotective of me. They just trust me because I've never given them a reason not to. Unlike some people I know."

"Yeah, well, your parents are cool, unlike my mom who watches everything I do with a critical eye."

"Jackie look, I know Aunt Jazz can be a huge pain sometimes. Especially when she tries to make us sit through one of those, uh, family meetings." Dara said shuttering at the memory, "But could you maybe try not to act out against her all the time. She's not so bad, y'know once you get past the nagging, perky, meddling, overbearing part." At this Jackie just placed her cousin with a scowl of utter disbelief. "Besides you two really are a lot..."

"Dara don't you dare finish that sentence!" Jackie angrily screamed.

"Alike." Dara finished anyway.

"Ughh! I told you not to finish that sentence!"

"But you are alike Jackie. Even dad says you are and he's known her longer than both of us, and it's not like she was never rebellious. She got a tattoo and now you've got a belly button ring." Jackie's mouth, which had been hanging wide open through all her cousin's logic, suddenly snapped back into action.

"Shhh! Dara she'll hear you." Jackie said looking up the stairs to make sure her mother wasn't coming.

"Oh Jackie, come on. You can't honestly tell me you think Aunt Jazz doesn't already know. She figured out my dad was half ghost without anybody telling her. Do you really think she won't be able to figure out that her over rebellious teen daughter got a huge belly button ring without her permission?"

"No." Jackie admitted, "But the longer we play this game, the longer I'm not grounded."

"And when you do get grounded, you'll sneak out like you always do and say you were out ghost fighting with me just like you did last time."

"Ha! I did do that didn't I. Thanks for covering for me by the way."

"Hey, we're cousins, I figure we have to be nice to each other every once and awhile. Besides, it sounded like you were in enough trouble without me adding on to it."

"You're right I was." Jackie said with a smile as both girls started to laugh. Sure they argued a lot, but Jackie and Dara could be nice to each other every so often. Suddenly they were interrupted by a bright blinding light coming from a couple blocks over.

"Looks like Gramps is working on something in the Op Center again." Dara said as both girls shielded their eyes.

"I hope he doesn't cause a blackout like last week." Jackie said as the light started to dim and the girls put their hands down. Dara looked up and around.

"Nope. The lights are still on." she said.

"Can you believe we all used to live in that crazy house. With something catching fire or blowing up every other day." Jackie said.

"Oh that's not true Jackie. Something blew up everyday." Dara joked as Jackie just looked scornful. "Come on Jackie we had fun. Even if we did have to share a room."

"Just us, fine. It was when we had to start sharing that room with Conner that it got a little, too, crowded."

"Did I hear someone say my name?" a voice from upstairs said. Suddenly a boy in baggy clothes slid down the railing of the stairs and landed on the floor perfectly between Dara and Jackie.

"Conner Nathaniel Fenton! How many times have I told you not to slide down the railing! You could hurt yourself!" Jazz yelled as she quickly ran down the stairs to join the three younger Fentons. She placed the young boy Conner with a very stern stare, however, he just looked up and smiled.

"Sorry moms. Force of habit. I promise to be more careful next time." Conner said with a sincere grin.

"Don't do it next time!" Jazz said sternly.

"Alright, alright, I won't I promise." Conner said still with that smile on his face. Jazz softened a bit.

"Oh, alright. Just make sure you help Dara with whatever questions she has about your homework. I still have some work to do so I'll be in the kitchen. Dara you can jus come and get me if he doesn't help you."

"Alright Aunt Jazz, and thanks." Dara said as her aunt went back into the kitchen.

"Hmm. Doesn't help. It's like she's saying I won't. I mean I'll try, but at the end of the day I'm just a genius not a miracle worker." Conner said with that laidback goofy grin that was his signature.

"Ha-ha! Very funny." Dara said sarcastically, "Just because you skipped a grade doesn't mean the rest of the freshmen class are idiots. Okay, well, most of them are, but not all of them."

"Uhhh, that's just what I need. Both my annoying cousin and my bratty little brother to come to my school in the exact same year." Jackie said annoyed. Apparently with her mother's and brother's appearance her foul mood had come back as well.

"It's our school now big sis, but if you're all frustrated and tense because you don't understand your homework I'd be happy to help you after I'm finished with Dara." Conner said cockily winning him an evil piercing glare from Jackie.

"You're hilarious tonight Conner," Jackie said coolly, "but for your information I'm already done my homework. You're not the only smart one in this family y'know. I would, however, work on your comedy, your jokes are really starting to slip through the cracks."

"I don't know Jackie. That last one was pretty funny I thought." Dara said gaining a high five from Conner in their jest against Jackie.

"Oh, you two are unbelievable!" Jackie said exasperated, "I'm going upstairs where I can at least have some privacy in my own room away from the two of you!" And with that Jackie marched loudly upstairs.

"See ya later Jackie!" Dara said right as Jackie walked into her room slamming the door behind her. Soon after that, the sound of loud music could be heard coming from Jackie's room.

"Yeah," Conner said turning back to Dara, "she always plays that song after she gets something pierced. I don't know why, seeing as that's like a blaring horn to mom that she's put another hole in her ear. Or in this case a hole in her stomach." Conner knew, too, of course. "So Dara, what can I help you with?" Conner said once again giving Dara his signature goofy smile, but Dara knew he was being sincere.

Dara knew her younger cousin could be laidback at times and had his comical quirks every now and again, but she never doubted that he'd help her. That's just how Conner was. He didn't like confrontation, and preferred to just go with the flow. Not to say he didn't stand up for himself he just didn't like causing fights where they weren't needed. In his opinion, what was the point of causing trouble if you could avoid it?

To most people this would seem like someone wise beyond their years, but Dara knew better. Dara knew her cousin. She knew pretty much the only reason Conner didn't cause trouble was because it was just, too, much work. Conner liked to have fun and goof off, and didn't like to do anything if, too, much work was involved. He did work sometimes, but most of the time Conner was just a lazy laidback dude, even though he was really smart. And yes, he was really smart. In fact, according to several I.Q. tests Conner Fenton was a complete genius which would explain why he was a freshmen at Casper High School even though he was only 13 years old.

Conner was the befuddlement of all stereotypes. He was smart yes, but he wasn't one of those glasses wearing, pocket protector sporting nerds you think of when you think of someone smart. Conner wore baggy dark green pants along with a light blue baggy hooded sweatshirt and sneakers. He, also, wore a blue cap backwards on top of his mass of messy dark brown hair. He had a few freckles and the same color and shape of his mother's eyes which were the only things he had that made him look at all like the other members of his family.

Conner, also, had asthma, but that didn't stop him from skateboarding on a daily basis. As many may have already gathered Conner, also, loves to play the drums, and he's actually pretty good at it. He is much more into ghost fighting than his sister, and definitely has better aim. No one is quite sure how Conner became such a better ghost fighter than his mom and sister, but they just figure that he must've gotten some of his uncle's genes or at least paid closer attention when Danny was telling him about the weapons. All in all though Conner had a good heart, even if he was lazy most of the time.

Dara really did prefer her younger cousin over Jackie just basically because he didn't try to cause so much trouble, no matter what the reason. True there were times that Conner got on her nerves just as much as Jackie, but when you live in the same house and occupy the same room with certain people for a period of your life you get to know them a lot better and all those annoying quirks they have are sort of amplified from time to time. But at least Conner didn't always do everything just to cause trouble. Because of this he had a better relationship with their mom than Jackie did. They disagreed sometimes, but for the most part Conner would just listen to his mother's rules giving them a typical mother-son relationship. Dara thought that was pretty good.

"Yeah, I have a question about the English homework Lancer gave us today." Dara said in response to his previous question.

"Okay, I'm already done so I can pretty much help you with whatever. So what's the question?"

"Umm... like... what is it?" Dara asked which received a shocked look from Conner.

"Are you serious? Dar, you missed all of Lancer's class again! We've only been going to this school for a week and a day and you've missed Lancer's class at least three times."

"I know. I know. But this time it wasn't my fault."

"What happened this time?"

"Well, right before Lancer's class my ghost sense went off, then I went ghost and flew outside to what I thought was a horrible ghostly attack well it turned out to only be Boxed Lunch who was looking for my autograph again, and right when I was about to ditch he, her psychotic mother comes along in monster form going "Boxed Lunch what are you doing with this Phantom Grrr!", then she attacked me with her little meat men army and buried me under a pile of meat, yuck I hate meat!, by the time I was able to dig myself out of that and get both of them back to the Ghost Zone Lancer's class was already over, eww gross I still smell like meat now, and that's why I have absolutely no idea what the homework is that's due tomorrow. So what is it?" Dara finished quickly and all in one breath.

Conner just stood their blinking with his mouth open trying to understand what his cousin had just rambled off. Even with his I.Q., it took Conner a few minutes to process all of what Dara had said and grasp the important parts of it. Nevertheless, eventually he got it.

"Even so, you should really be more careful how many of his classes you miss Dara. If you keep skipping his class not only is he going to get suspicious of what else you're doing, but you'll get into major trouble with him. Not just detentions for the unexplained absences, but your grades will slip, too." Conner said in a voice that made it seem like Jazz was back in the room.

"Hey, it's not my fault that all these ghosts decide to attack during Lancer's boring English class." Dara said defensively.

"Couldn't you get your dad to handle some of these attacks, or Danni, at least when your at school."

"I can handle it!" Dara insisted. She had never heard him sound so much like his mother, or get this close to an actual argument. Maybe high school was making him more mature. "Really. Besides after all the years they put into ghost fighting, they need a break."

"I don't think they'd see it that way. Listen Dara I..."

"Conner," Dara interrupted a little harshly, "if you are just gonna read me the riot act I don't need it. There's always Aunt Jazz for that. I need to get home, so are you gonna help me or not?" Dara said a little annoyed and putting on her best scowl.

"Alright, alright." Conner said defeated. He knew when not to press. Dara knew he'd stop. He was still Conner at heart, and he still hated getting into fights. "I'll help you. Just promise me you'll try not to miss anymore of Lancer's classes for awhile." Dara's look softened as she did her father's inherited half-grin at her cousin. It was really nice that he cared even if it annoyed her sometimes.

"Deal." she said and he nodded.

"Okay. Well we were talking about Shakespeare toady." Conner began.

"Already? But it's only the second week of school!"

"I know, but he said he wanted to get an early start this year."

"Way early."

"I know, but I don't make the curriculum."

"But seriously how are we supposed to focus on Shakespeare this early in the year?"

"I don't know Dara! Would you just listen please!" Conner exclaimed frustrated showing signs of his sister.

"Eh, heh, sorry." Dara said nervously. She really needed to kick this pesky rambling habit.

"Okay. We started learning about _A Midsummer Night's Dream_."

DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP

"Thanks a lot Conner. I'll see you tomorrow." Dara said as she started to walk out the door.

"No prob Dara!" Conner shouted back.

"Oh, Dara, you're leaving? I'll go get Jackie so she can say good-bye." Jazz said from the kitchen.

"No, that's alright Aunt Jazz. I already said good-bye, and besides I'll see her at school tomorrow." Dara said knowing full well that by now Jackie was inspecting her new belly button ring and wouldn't be, too, happy if she was suddenly interrupted by her mother.

"Okay, sweetie. I'm sure I'll see you soon, and tell your mom and dad I said hi."

"I will. Bye! And thanks again Conner!"

"See ya later Dara, and just make sure you actually do your homework!" Conner shouted as his final good-bye. Dara rolled her eyes. Apparently her dad wasn't the only one worried about her tonight.

"I will, I promise. Bye!" And with that Dara closed the door and began to walk across the street to her house. She looked down at the book in her hands. _A Midsummer Night's Dream_ by William Shakespeare. She had borrowed Conner's copy in order to do her homework that night (since he had already finished his) and promised to return it to him tomorrow and get her own copy.

"Write an essay on the relationships between Hermia, Lysandor, Helena, and Demetrius." Dara repeated what Conner had told her their homework was, "Honestly, how does he expect us to do that in one night. I guess it probably would've helped if I was actually in class to actually read the play and hear Lancer babble on about it, but still it's a lot to do. And what was up with Conner? He sounded exactly like Aunt Jazz when it comes to school. I didn't think high school would have that much of an effect on him. Oh, well I guess it's nice that he cares."

_No it's not._

Dara stopped in her tracks. The voice had come from seemingly nowhere. "Wha-what?" Dara stammered a little scared but still holding her ground.

_You heard me. It's not good that he cares, or that any of them care actually. Can't you see it'll only get in our way?_

Okay, this voice, thing, whatever it was, was definitely talking to her but from where? With her Ghost Vision on Dara scanned the whole area, but saw nothing. Her ghost sense hadn't gone off so it wasn't a ghost playing the invisibility card either. There was no one there. But then who or what was this voice, and where was it coming from?

As crazy as it sounded, once Dara calmed down a bit, the voice seemed to be coming from inside her head. It seemed to respond to questions, so she figured she'd ask another.

"Who are you?" Dara asked in almost a whisper.

_Now that's a tough question isn't it._

Dara let out a scream of pain and terror. This time when the voice had spoken a sharp intense pain had ripped through Dara's skull. This pain was incredible. She'd never felt anything like it, and she had no idea where it was coming from. Through the pain Dara was able to keep asking questions because she knew she needed information.

"What do you want?"

_Want? I want to help you reach your ultimate destiny. Why have you been fighting me so hard on this?_

"Fighting you? I haven't been fighting you. I don't even know who you are!"

_Oh, but you have been fighting me._

"How?"

_This whole caring for people thing, and people caring for you. Love, caring, compassion all these emotions for all these people suppresses me so much and is really going to get in our way._

"What do you mean our way?" This voice was filled with such malice and hatred. It chilled Dara to the core, and she felt nauseous just sitting there talking to it as her head throbbed. She wanted to stop, but somehow couldn't. No. She wanted to find out what the hell it was talking about!

_Well if you want to get technical your way, but I'm the one who's going to be guiding you. And I say all these emotions have to be terminated._

"I'm not just gonna stop caring for these people. I can't! I won't!" Dara said getting a little more fierce.

_Oh, please. You don't really believe that. I'm trying to help you reach your ultimate destiny, and you are gonna let something as meaningless as emotions weigh you down. Do you honestly think that dear sweet Daddy is going to be able to help you through all of your changes?_

The voice just seemed to seethe with hate as it said those words. "Shut up." Dara said struggling against the pain in her head.

_Danny Phantom town hero, ha! I mean where has that really gotten him? Some wimpy recognition. He puts his life on the line everyday for all these insignificant people, and he's still hunted by these worthless slugs._

"Shut up!" Dara said again her voice rising in strength with every word.

_Dear Daddy isn't a hero. He's a fool! Going around protecting everyone is just a waste of time! Daddy dearest is nothing but a loser!_

That did it. That struck a chord inside Dara giving her the strength she needed to pull all hr will power and forget everything else. She was Dara Fenton/Phantom. The girl who had been watching bloody, gory, violent horror movies since she was two and never losing any sleep over it. She was the girl who fought giant ghost monsters on a daily basis. She was the daughter of Danny Phantom. And here she was cowering in fear from some mysterious disembodied voice that was insulting her father. Dara didn't know what this voice was or where it was coming from, but she knew one thing. No one insulted her father and got away with it.

"I said shut up!" Dara said completely enraged. Unknown to Dara as she screamed this her eyes went a fierce glowing green. There was a blinding light, and then Dara heard a terrible scream but this time it wasn't her.

_I-I didn't realize your resistance was still this powerful._

The voice sounded very out of breath.

_I guess this wasn't the right time to make you see things my way. Oh, well, eventually your resistance will weaken and you'll easily come over to my side. Soon Dara. Soon._

And then the voice was gone. Faded away with those last three words. The pain in her head had lessened a bit and Dara was able to open her eyes to see where she was. She found that she was lying on the ground and had somehow gotten over to the other side of the sidewalk in front of her house.

She was breathing heavily and sweating as her head was still throbbing painfully from whatever encounter she had just had. She moved on her knees noticing that Conner's copy of _A Midsummer Night's Dream_ had been tossed right behind her. It had gotten pretty dirty, and she had no idea how she was going to explain that to Conner but at that moment she didn't care. She grabbed the book and got on to her feet. She hurried up the steps to her house, even though every step cause her head to ache. She hoped whatever happened hadn't taken, too, long and that her parents weren't worried.

As she opened the door and walked into her house she heard her parents and Danni in the kitchen immersed in conversation. It must not have been that long.

"I'm telling you Danny you need to tell her now. You can't just keep putting it off." That was Danni's voice. Tell her what? Keep putting what off? These questions raced through Dara's head, but her head was throbbing, too, hard to even care to think about what they were talking about.

Dara didn't really hear anymore of the conversation because as the threesome in the kitchen noticed she was back they immediately stopped talking.

Dara vaguely remembered them welcoming her back. She may have said something to them, but the pain in her head was, too, great for her to be coherent of anything that was going on. She blurrily remembered her mother coming up to her asking her if she was feeling okay. She must've really looked bad. She mumbled something about a headache and to sleep it off before running upstairs to her room. She went into her room and grabbed her pajamas with her throbbing head all while thinking, well at least no stupid voice.

That voice may not have been talking to her right then, but as she laid down in her bed closing her eyes tight those three last words it had said echoed in her mind.

Soon Dara. Soon.

Soon for what? How did it know her name? And what did it want with her and her family? Her head hurt, too, much to make any sense of it, but one thing she did know was that for the first time since she was really little she was scared. She fought ghosts and all their creepy minions and monsters without even flinching, but she was scared of this faceless voice. She was scared of what it wanted, of what it was going to do, and the biggest reason of why she was scared of it.

As Dara fell asleep with a throbbing head that night she thought of that reason. That voice, so full of malice, hate, and blood lust, had sounded almost identical to hers.

**Phew! That was a long chapter, but here it is finally. So Dara seems to have a new enemy to face, and this one she can't even see. And it sounds like her? Wow, that's weird. I wonder what it could be? Well, I don't wonder I know, I mean I wrote this story, so you'll all wonder about it. Oh, the suspense I'm leaving you with. Well if you want to find out what happens next keep reading, and just so you know it might be awhile before I get the next chapter up. School starting and all, I'm getting a lot of homework this year, so just sit tight I'll be back as soon as I can! Thanks again for reading, and please review if you have the time! See you next chapter!**


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